SAN DIEGO, July 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Verenium Corporation (Nasdaq: VRNM), a leading industrial biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of high-performance enzymes, and Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), the leading owner, operator, and developer of high-quality, sustainable real estate and technical infrastructure for the broad and diverse life science industry, today celebrate the grand opening for Verenium's new office and laboratory building in the Torrey Pines area of San Diego, CA. The Grand Opening event guest speakers include San Diego elected officials Mayor Jerry Sanders and San Diego City Councilmember, Sherri Lightner, as well as BIOCOM President and CEO, Joe Panetta. The Council of the City of San Diego will also present Verenium with a proclamation recognizing the Company for its service and commitment to the city and the biotechnology field.

"The completion of our new facility is an important milestone for the future growth of our business, and we thank everyone involved in helping us with this achievement," said James Levine, President and Chief Executive Officer of Verenium. "Through enhanced design and functionality, our new facility promotes innovation and collaboration throughout the organization, and positions us for continued advancement in the industrial biotechnology industry."

Verenium's new 60,000 square foot building includes state-of-the-art laboratories, office space designed to support employee creativity and a high-tech fermentation pilot plant for use in bioprocess development and optimization, enzyme product development and manufacturing scale-up. As part of the Nautilus campus, owned and operated by Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., Verenium's new building is designed to achieve LEED Gold certification through the use of a number of sustainable initiatives including energy efficiency and reduced water consumption.

"This is an exciting moment for the burgeoning industrial biotechnology industry in San Diego's diverse life science cluster," said Dan Ryan, Executive Vice President and Regional Market Director of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. "Verenium's new state-of-the-art facility will foster the collaboration and innovation needed to develop novel products that revolutionize industrial processes in an efficient, environmentally sustainable way. We congratulate Verenium on their grand opening and look forward to our continued partnership."

"This facility captures the innovative spirit of San Diego," said Mayor Jerry Sanders. "Two industry leaders collaborating to create better, cheaper, cleaner processes and products, forging new paths for others to follow, and contributing to the economic vitality of the region."

Verenium currently employs 101 people with approximately 95% of employees based in San Diego. In 2011, Verenium added 32 new employees and another ten additional positions since the beginning of 2012. The Company expects to add several additional positions over the next six months.

About Verenium

Verenium, an industrial biotechnology company, is a global leader in developing high-performance enzymes. Verenium's tailored enzymes are environmentally friendly, making products and processes greener and more cost-effective for industries, including the global food and fuel markets. Read more at www.verenium.com.

About Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE) is the largest and leading investment-grade real estate investment trust focused principally on owning, operating, and developing high-quality, sustainable real estate for the broad and diverse life science industry. Founded in 1994, Alexandria has the first-mover advantage in every core life science cluster location, including Greater Boston, San Francisco, San Diego, and New York City. Alexandria's high-credit client tenants span the life science industry, including renowned academic and medical institutions, multinational pharmaceutical companies, public and private biotechnology entities, U.S. government research agencies, medical device companies, clean technology companies, venture capitalists, and life science product and service companies. As the recognized real estate partner of the life science industry, Alexandria has a superior track record in driving client tenant productivity and innovation through its best-in-class laboratory and office space, collaborative locations proximate to leading research institutions, unparalleled life science real estate expertise and services, and longstanding and expansive network in the life science community. For additional information on Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., please visit www.are.com.

Verenium's Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical are "forward-looking" and involve a high degree of risk and uncertainty. These include, but are not limited to, statements related to Verenium's technology, products and product candidates, lines of business, operations, capabilities, commercialization activities, corporate partnerships, target markets, future financial performance, and near-term and longer-term growth and prospects. Such statements are only predictions, and actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to the differences include, but are not limited to, risks associated with Verenium's strategic focus, technologies, products and product candidates, dependence on patents and proprietary rights, protection and enforcement of its patents and proprietary rights, the commercial prospects of the industries in which Verenium operates and sells products, Verenium's dependence on manufacturing and/or license agreements, its ability to achieve milestones under existing and future collaboration agreements, the ability of Verenium and its partners to commercialize its technologies and products (including by obtaining any required regulatory approvals) using Verenium's technologies, the timing for launching any commercial products and projects, the ability of Verenium and its collaborators to market and sell any products that it or they commercialize, the development or availability of competitive products or technologies, the future ability of Verenium to enter into and/or maintain collaboration and joint venture agreements and licenses, and risks and other uncertainties more fully described in Verenium's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, Verenium's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 and any updates contained in its subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q . These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and Verenium expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.